


Capture the cast

by makerofaqueen



Series: Cotton candy [12]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fluff, Kissing, Love, M/M, Pranking, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-05 03:37:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11569485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makerofaqueen/pseuds/makerofaqueen
Summary: Couples that prank together, stay together.





	Capture the cast

**Author's Note:**

> This came off of an anon request about a five plus one thing and I tried anon, I really did but I struggled so much with the format it was insane. At least you got Mitchell loving and spoiling on Connor, so, there's that. Hope you like it anyway.

Connor had broken his leg. Or actually, if you wanted to be petty, and yeah Connor kind of did, Malcolm had broken Connor’s leg. At least that’s what Connor was thinking as he sat fuming in the infirmary bed. It wasn’t fair, it really wasn’t, and it didn’t help that Mitchell had actually laughed at him when he hurt himself.

In Mitchell’s defense Connor had looked rather funny when he did, and yes, Annabeth had filmed it.

Bitch.

And yes, she had showed the film to Connor (and anyone else who wanted to see it). However, Connor was never going to admit to anyone that he too thought it looked funny. Especially not his traitorous boyfriend.

 

\------------------------

 

It had started out as a rather good week. The demigods who were actually in college now had break, so a lot of them were back at camp. This included among other’s Travis and Katie, Annabeth and Percy, Piper and Jason… So, Chiron had decided that a game of capture the flag was in order. You know, to see if the older one’s had any gist left in them.

It was Aphrodite, Hermes, Ares and the Big Three against the rest of them. Someone, probably Percy himself, had decided he would construct their battle plan. Since Annabeth was constructing the other team’s plan, no one had had the heart to tell him otherwise.

So, Mitchell was guarding the flag, purely as bait, but Percy hadn’t told him that, with a shit load of Hermes campers hidden among the trees, because in Percy’s mind they were sneaky fuckers, and now they were armed with color bombs to throw. Connor himself had a whole plastic bag with him and also a really good view of his boyfriend from where he was hiding among the leaves. Jason had flown them there, and he was now perched in a tree himself, waiting. Nico was hiding in the shadows, ready to step out when Mitchell got overrun, which Percy assumed he would be. The blue team was ready to bring down hell on the hoards that they thought Annabeth would send their way, while Percy and the Aphrodite girls were going for the red flag, flanked by the Ares campers.

Much to everyone’s surprise, the only person from the opposing team to arrive in search of their flag, was Malcolm from the Athena cabin. Mitchell was on his feet as soon as Malcolm came out into the clearing. He nocked an arrow and aimed at the other boy. Malcolm put his hands up in surrender.

‘Don’t shoot, Mitch, please.’

Mitchell narrowed his eyes at Malcolm.

‘Then stay back. I will shoot you if you come any closer.’

Somewhere off to Mitchell’s right he could hear leaves ruffle. Malcolm took a few more steps. Mitchell’s hands started to shake from the strain of holding the arrow from flying.

‘Mal, I’m warning you.’

Connor was watching Malcolm through the leaves. He knew the boy was lying, that was one of his Hermes abilities, but he couldn’t see where the rest of them were. They had to be in the forest across the creek, ready to make a rush for it as soon as Annabeth gave the signal, but… If he knew his Brainiac friend well enough, Malcolm was as much bait as Mitchell was, but he couldn’t stop watching the two of them on the ground out of fear for what Malcolm might do. Malcolm _could_ benefit from getting a color bomb in his head, but he was standing so close to Mitchell now and Connor was kind of worried the powder would make Mitchell’s lungs flip out and he didn’t want to cause him _another_ asthma attack. It was more than a year ago but Connor still had nightmares about the first one.

‘It’s just me, Mitch. Promise.’

_Liar_ , Connor thought. He wanted to scream at Mitchell not to believe him, but he also didn’t want to give up his position. Mitchell looked a little unsure of himself. His eyes scanned the forest for any signs of other people but he found none.

‘I don’t even know how I found myself here, honestly. I kind of got lost.’

That was something Malcolm shouldn’t have said. Everyone knew Athena kids treasured maps and the thought of one of them getting lost on camp grounds? Ridiculous. Connor met Travis’ eyes across the clearing. He knew his brother was thinking the same thing. A few branches beneath him Cecil was crouching on another branch and to Connor’s right Amalia was in another tree, higher up than he was. Somewhere behind the pole were Julia and Alice. Jason had placed them there to try and keep the girls out of harm’s way. He couldn’t see them, but he knew Jason and Nico were somewhere closely behind the flag, too.

Mitchell let his arrow fly. Malcolm dodged it and smiled at him.

‘Oh, Mitch, please.’

He was right next to Mitchell now, too close for Mitchell to be able to shoot him. However, no one, _no one_ had expected what Malcolm did next. He closed the distance between them in two long strides and kissed Mitchell. Smack on the lips.

That’s when Connor fell out of his tree.

Mitchell pulled back, instantly, and turned around when he heard Connor yelp as he lost his balance, falling to the ground and landing in a cloud of pink, purple and red colored powder as every one of his bombs went off at once. The rowdy laughter from his siblings gave their positions away and as Mitchell ran to see if Connor was okay, the five of them were taken out by Apollo campers armed with bows and arrows. Nico couldn’t see a damn thing, what with the giant cloud of colors and he cursed Percy’s decision to arm the Hermes kids with the balls, so of course Malcolm actually got the flag and managed to disappear among the trees with it, Annabeth, Will, Kayla and Austin joining him, cheering.

When the smoke had cleared, Jason found Connor lying on the ground with his leg at a weird angle, his head in Mitchell’s lap. He was covered in colored powder which had rubbed off on Mitchell’s jeans. Trying his best not to snicker at the poor boy, Jason offered to carry him to the infirmary while Mitchell went to get Will. Connor tried to fight Jason and said he was not in the mood to be carried anywhere but Mitchell just patted him on the head and went to go find Will, leaving Connor at Jason’s mercy. Since Jason was a pretty buff guy, and Connor was, well, not, he got flown bridal-style to the infirmary.

 

\---------------------------

 

Will had healed most of the break, but he still wanted to Connor to have the cast on for a couple of weeks to be on the safe side. He was currently laying in his bed sulking because his cabin mates were off rock wall climbing and he still hadn’t figured out how to maneuver his crutches good enough to get safely around camp. His body was itching to run, or climb or do _anything_.

Also he was still rather pissed at Mitchell for the kiss with Malcolm, which sure, was a little unfair because Malcolm had kissed _him_ and not the other way around, but Connor, who thought he wasn’t the jealous type had been rather upset by that kiss and then he got upset that he had gotten upset because he shouldn’t but then Mitchell had laughed at him when he watched the film where he fell out of the tree. So yeah, he kind of wanted to be a little petty towards his boyfriend right now. Sue him.

Mitchell came into the infirmary with a giant bouquet of red roses in his hands. Connor looked at him when he came by his bed and sat the flowers down on the nightstand.

‘How are you feeling, darling?’

Connor just huffed and looked away. Mitchell frowned.

‘What is it? I can feel you’re upset about something. Talk to me, please.’

‘Just leave me alone, would you?’

Mitchell didn’t see any reason to try and argue with Connor right now, he could come back later and see what was wrong.

‘Oh. Okay… uhm… I guess I’ll go, then.’

Too bad for Mitchell that Connor was so fucking bored that he actually _craved_ a fight right now and he knew exactly what to say.

‘Do that. Tell _Malcolm_ I said hi.’

Mitchell snapped his head around.

‘What?’

‘Just go!’

‘You know what? Fine! Come talk to me when you start making some _gods damned sense_ , Stoll!’

Mitchell stormed out of the infirmary and went to hide in his cabin. He curled up in his bunk and cried, not even bothering to stop when he heard the cabin door being opened.

‘Yeah, Jason we’ll be there in a sec… Mitch, sweetie, what’s wrong?’

He felt himself being pulled up and hugged by two of his sisters. When he wiped his tears he had Piper on one side and Lacy on the other. Castor and Edward were sitting on the floor in front of him.

‘I… I just had a fight with Connor, it’s nothing.’

‘It’s not nothing if you’re crying,’ Lacy said. When did she get so wise?

‘Do you want to tell us what happened?’ Castor asked.

‘I don’t even know, I… I went to visit him in the infirmary and I had flowers and everything but he was so angry when I got there and I really don’t know how it happened but we were yelling at each other and then he told me to leave, so I did.’

‘Oh sweetie,’ Piper said and stroke his hair.

Mitchell wiped his nose on the back of his hand and sighed, then he ran his fingers through his hair.

‘Come on, Mitchie,’ Lacy said, ‘Let’s go get dinner. You’ll feel better with some food in you.’

‘I don’t want to eat.’

‘No, she’s right,’ Castor said. ‘Come on, dude. You need some food in you, then we can talk about this. We’ll figure it out. It’s love, it’s what we do.’

He grabbed Mitchell by the hand and pulled him up before Mitchell could protest it. For such a small guy he was surprisingly strong. Lacy put her arm around his waist and that’s how he walked to the dining pavilion. With Lacy’s arm around his waist, hand in hand with his brother and Piper and Edward trailing behind them. They sat him down and Piper volunteered to get some food. Mitchell hardly touched it. He was so invested in his sulking that he didn’t notice a couple of piercing blue eyes watching from across the pavilion. When he was about to leave Travis jogged up behind him.

‘Mitch, wait up.’

Mitchell turned around, surprised Travis was actually speaking to him. If Connor was mad at him for some reason then Travis should be too. Piper dragged a Castor in what seemed to be a leveled up fighting mode away before he could do any more damage to the situation.

‘What is it, Travis?’

‘Are you okay? Like, you seem upset about something.’

Mitchell looked at his feet when he said:

‘Yeah, like your brother practically throwing me out of the infirmary when I came to visit him earlier.’

‘He did what!?’

Mitchell looked up.

‘He didn’t tell you?’

‘I haven’t had time to see him yet, with him gone I had to take care of the kids. Uhm… that’s weird. I’ll go talk to him. I’ll come see you afterwards, okay?’

‘Yeah, I guess. Hey, why you’re there, could you give him this?’ Mitchell took out a card from his back pocket. ‘It was supposed to go with the flowers I gave him but I forgot when he got so pissy. Don’t let him throw it out.’

‘Okay. Sure. What is it?’

‘A renewal of the audiobook subscription I got him for Christmas. Figured if he’d be in a cast for two weeks he’d want something to listen to.’ Mitchell shrugged. Travis patted him on the shoulder.

‘He’ll come around, Mitch. It’s you, after all.’

Mitchell didn’t really know what to make of that statement, so he just sighed and left Travis on the porch, going inside and burrowing under his covers.

 

\---------------------------

 

Connor was lying on his back, watching the ceiling when Travis entered the infirmary.

‘There’s the idiot of the year. Bored, much?’

‘Like hell. Where have _you_ been all day? Too fucking busy to visit your brother?’

‘Yup. With you here someone has to take care of the kids.’ Travis sat down on the side of Connor’s bed and patted him on the cast. When Connor hissed he only laughed. ‘I have something for you.’

He handed over the card. Connor read it.

‘This is Mitchell’s handwriting.’

‘Yeah, he asked me to give that to you. It’s that book thing, again. He wanted you to have something to do when you were stuck in here. Said he forgot when you got all pissy on him. What was that about, anyway?’

‘He told you, huh?’

‘No. I asked him. He didn’t eat anything during dinner and his face was all read and blotchy. Either he suddenly developed an allergy against something or he had been crying excessively. I guessed the latter. You know, I actually like Mitchell, I want to keep him around, so what the fuck, bro?’

Connor sighed.

‘I… okay, I know it’s stupid, but, like, I keep seeing that kiss and I know I shouldn’t be jealous because, come on, this is Mitchell we’re talking about, but I just can’t let it go. And… and I know I can’t blame him for something Mal did but I kinda do. And… and then I get angry with myself because I’m angry about the kiss and that doesn’t really make it any easier.’

‘You’re an idiot,’ Travis said and left. Connor just stared after him, feeling even more abandoned. Even his own brother didn’t want anything to do with him. That was just great.

 

\----------------------------

 

Travis made his way to the Aphrodite cabin when he left the infirmary. Lacy was sitting on the foot end Mitchell’s bunk, tossing grapes at him and telling him some story about some boy she was dating. Travis didn’t really listen because he was watching Mitchell who had burrowed himself deep down in there and was staring at the wall. He took one of Lacy’s grapes and threw it as hard as he could at Mitchell. He hit him on the top of his head.

‘Ouch! What the frick, Travis?!

‘Frick? Seriously?’ Mitchell rubbed his head as he sat up. ‘Quit sulking, Doe. I figured out what’s wrong with my brother.’

‘Wanna share?’

Travis poked Lacy a little so she scooted over and he could sit down by Mitchell’s feet.

‘He’s jealous of Mal.’

Mitchell just shook his head.

‘That’s ridiculous. He doesn’t have any reason to be jealous of Mal. He knows that.’

‘He does know that, but he says he can’t stop replaying that kiss in his mind and even though he knows he’s got nothing to worry about he’s still upset about it. Then he gets upset because he gets upset because he knows he’s being ridiculous and it’s a bad circle.’

‘And he takes it out on me.’

‘Because you kissed Mal.’

‘Malcolm kissed me. You saw that.’

‘Tomato tomahto. The kiss happened. Connor is jealous. You need to win him over.’

‘How?’

‘What does he usually do when you’re upset?’

‘He spoils me. I should do that, but he doesn’t want to see me.’

‘He has to sleep sometime,’ Lacy said and hand-fed Travis a grape.

‘He does, doesn’t he?’ Mitchell mused.

 

\-------------------------------

 

The following day Connor got a visit in the infirmary. It was during lunch that Lacy came and handed him a tray of food.

‘What are you doing here, Lace?’

‘Nice to see you too, sour puss.’

She hopped up on the bed beside him, narrowly missing his cast and pulled out a pen which she used to make some art on it.

‘Sorry,’ Connor mumbled.

‘I wanted to visit you. We’re friends and friends do that. I’m sorry you have to stay here, I tried telling Will that you should at least be able to be in your own cabin but he was really adamant that you stay here.’

‘I know. He usually is. You remember he once kept Mitchell here for a week and a half because of a cold.’

‘Yes! When he got sick on Valentine’s Day. He was so grumpy about that. But you were so nice to him and brought him flowers and pizza and stuff.’

‘Yeah…’ Connor said dreamily.

‘Why are you so mad at him anyway?’

‘I don’t know, Lace.’

‘He’s really sad you know.’

‘I figured. Has he cried anything?’

‘You know it. Last night before dinner and this morning in the shower when he thought that no one else was awake. Also he keeps looking at your photos in his phone.’

Connor groaned and leaned his head against his pillow.

‘Now I feel even more terrible. I’m really mad at Malcolm but somehow when I see Mitchell I imagine that kiss and the anger just flares up.’

‘Sounds like you need to talk to Malcolm.’

‘Yeah, like that would ever happen. If I was him I’d be worried about the ramifications of pissing off a Hermes kid and I would be too scared to meet him.’

‘I can talk to him if you want.’

‘You’d talk to Malcolm for me?’

‘Yes. I can make him come here.’

‘Good luck with that, Lace.’

 

\----------------------

 

Lacy, totally undeterred by Connor’s lack of confidence in her, knocked on the Athena cabin. Tom opened.

‘Hey, Tom!’ She said and bounced on her heels. ‘Is Malcolm here?’

‘Yeah. Why?’

‘Because I need to talk to him. Duh.’

She rolled her eyes. Tom blushed. He felt really stupid being put in place by a child. Not that Lacy was _that_ much younger than him, but still.

‘M.. Malcolm! Y.. you’ve g.. got a v.. visitor!’

Malcolm looked at Lacy over Tom’s shoulder. Tom ducked back in the cabin.

‘Hey, Lace. What’s up?’

‘You need to go see Connor. Don’t make me charmspeak you.’

Malcolm paled for a second before he realized something important.

‘You’re too young to have charmspeak.’

Lacy rolled her eyes again.

‘Well, I have other ways of making you. Why are you so scared to go?’

‘Because I kissed his boyfriend. As long as he’s in the infirmary bed he can’t do anything about it and I have, what, two weeks to prepare my protection.’

‘But if you talk to him you won’t have to protect yourself.’

‘Do you really think _Connor Stoll_ will let this slip unnoticed? I kissed his boyfriend, sure, it wasn’t my idea but he doesn’t care about that. He’ll have his revenge, I’m sure, and I’d rather be prepared.’

‘May I ask you a question, then?’

‘Sure Lace, fire away?’

‘Why _were_ you stupid enough to kiss the significant other of a Stoll?’

Lacy didn’t get an answer to that because Malcolm just closed the door in her face.

 

\--------------------------

 

When Connor took his nap because, well, there really wasn’t much else to do in the infirmary, Austin texted Mitchell that the coast was clear. He sneaked into Connor’s room and left him a gift basket full of cupcakes Lacey had helped him bake. Mitchell had decided that for this he needed to totally disregard that Travis had banned Connor from eating sugar because he got way too hyperactive. Okay, so, it probably wasn’t wise to give him sugar while he had to lay still either, but Mitchell figured that since Connor didn’t want to see him then it was really Will’s problem because _he_ was the one who would have to put up with Connor being bedridden on his sugar rush.

 

\----------------------------

 

‘L.. Lacy c..came to see M.. Mal today,’ Tom said.

‘Yeah?’ Cecil looked up from where he was half asleep with his head in Tom’s lap.

‘Mm. S.. she tried t.. to con.. convon.. No. Con-vinc-e h.. him to go s.. see Connor. He’s w.. way t.. t.. too scared though.’

‘Can’t blame him. Knowing my brother he’s most likely busy plotting some sort of revenge as we speak.’

‘W.. Why are y.. you l.. like this?’

‘Like what?’

‘All He.. Hermes-y.’

Cecil laughed. Tom looked down at him with narrowed eyes but he continued to stroke Cecil’s hair.

‘Oh sweetie, I don’t know. Look, Mal did a stupid thing and as far as I’m concerned Connor is entitled to a little revenge, as is Mitchell. That poor guy is caught in the middle of this thing. I feel sorry for him.’

‘I guess. I j.. just d.. d.. don’t want to g.. get c.. caught up i.. in this re.. revenge.’

‘Me neither. _Trust me._ Oh, you can hide out in my bunk for as long as you need to until you feel safe again,’ Cecil said and gave Tom his brightest smile.

‘S.. sure I can,’ Tom deadpanned.

 

\----------------------------

 

The next morning Connor woke up to a breakfast in bed, courtesy of Mitchell. He had piled everything he could think of that his boyfriend loved and left it by his infirmary bed. Connor smiled down at the scrambled eggs, the bacon, the fruit salad and all the other things on his tray. This time he couldn’t even be angry when he thought about Mitchell. However, he got a little sad when he thought about how he had treated him these past few days.

Mitchell watched through the window as Connor dug into his breakfast. He was happy that Connor didn’t develop an angry frown when he realized Mitchell had been in his room. That was improvement.

 

\-------------------------

 

‘You have connections, don’t you?’ Mitchell said while handing Cecil a fifty dollar note.

‘Course I do. What do you need, Doe?’

‘Stuffed Toothless.’

Cecil’s smile widened.

‘You’re bringing out the big guns, aren’t you?’

‘It’s my last chance, then I’m all out of ideas. If this doesn’t melt his heart then I’m lost.’

‘Trust me. Toothless will melt his heart. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t start crying.’

‘So how fast can you get it?’

Cecil looked at his wrist watch.

‘Is three hours okay?’

‘Uhm, I was thinking more along the line of days, but okay. Tomorrow is fine.’

‘Good, because I’ve got a date tonight. Tom doesn’t really like it when I have to cancel dates to go out and stea… hrm, _acquire_ stuff.’

‘Poor Tom,’ Mitchell shook his head.

 

\---------------------------

 

Connor was sleeping when Mitchell snuck into his room two days later. He stood for a while and watched his boyfriend sleeping in his bed. The leg with the cast on was suspended from the hanger on the bed. Mitchell could see all their friend’s signatures and tiny drawings on it. He got tears in his eyes. He hated this part of relationships, when both people were sad and there was nothing to do about it but getting your boyfriend a plushie of his favorite dragon. He tucked Toothless under Connor’s arm and turned around to leave.

Mitchell suddenly got hit in the back of his head with something. He stopped dead in his tracks and noticed it was the tiny stuffed dragon he had left at Connor’s bedside only moments ago. He bent down to pick it up, then he slowly turned around to see Connor watch him from his bed. Tears started forming in the corners of his eyes. If not even this could make Connor happy again, he was fucked.

‘You could have just thrown it in the trash,’ he whispered, hugging Toothless.

‘Then how would I have gotten it back?’ Connor asked. Mitchell regarded him for a few moments before he tossed the thing back to his boyfriend. Connor caught it and cradled it against his chest. ‘I love him. Thank you.’

Mitchell blinked the tears away and sniffled a little before he said:

‘I thought you were asleep.’

‘That was the point. You don’t come in here if I’m awake. Will you please come sit down so I can talk to you?’

Mitchell regarded Connor for a few moments before he went and sat down on the side of Connor’s bed. Connor was still hugging the black, stuffed dragon.

‘Where did you even get this?’

‘I have my methods. Do you think it’s only the Hermes kids that can get ahold of stuff?’ Mitchell asked, glad he had sworn Cecil to secrecy.

‘I suppose.’

‘So. Did you have anything you wanted to say to me?’

Connor sighed.

‘Yeah. I’m sorry I got jealous. I didn’t think I was a jealous guy, but… obviously I am. Finding that out kinda hurt.’

‘So you weren’t really mad at me you were mad at yourself but you took it out on me?’

‘….yes.’

‘Does that really make any sense?’

‘….no.’

‘I’m really glad you realize this.’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘Is that all?’

‘No. I acted like an immature child. I realize that. You’re not to blame here, Mal is, and I know you think revenge is bad but… I kinda _really_ want to get revenge.’

Mitchell leaned in and gave Connor a long, passionate kiss. When he pulled back his eyes sparkled.

‘You know what, sweetie, actually so do I.’

 

\---------------------------

 

Mitchell approached Malcolm in the middle of the Athena kid’s rock wall climbing lesson just as he was about to finish up and walk back to his cabin. He was tangled in the harness and trying to get out when Mitchell snaked his arm around Malcolm’s waist from behind and turned him around so they were facing each other. He smiled his brightest Aphrodite boy-smile at him, giving off his allure like a pink glow and noted with pleasure that it affected Malcolm as much as he had hoped. Malcolm was blushing and avoiding Mitchell’s gaze.

‘Hey, Mal…’ he purred without letting go of the other boy’s waist. Malcolm’s breath hitched. ‘Do you need any help getting out of… that?’

‘N.. no I’m o.. okay.’ Malcolm stuttered.

‘Are you sure? I’d _love_ to help you.’

Malcolm looked up into Mitchell’s eyes.

‘You… would?’

Mitchell loosened a couple of the straps and smiled again.

‘Sure… You know Mal, I’ve been thinking… That kiss of ours…’

‘Yeah…?’

‘It sure was a nice one.’

‘It was?’

‘Uh-huh. I don’t think I’d mind doing it again.’

Mitchell leaned in close to Malcolm’s ear and Malcolm could think of nothing while he felt Mitchell’s hot breath on his skin. When Mitchell pulled back Connor was standing next to him. Malcolm jumped backwards and looked between the two of them.

‘Where in Hades did _you_ come from?’

Connor slung his arm around Mitchell’s shoulders. Now that Mitchell didn’t give off any of his Aphrodite allure Malcolm could think again and he realized he was in trouble. Damn Mitchell and his abilities!

‘Oh, you know…’ Connor drawled. ‘Your cabin.’ Malcolm’s eyes widened while Connor continued: ‘Your bunk, to be more exact.’

‘No… no… What did you do, Stoll?’

‘Why don’t you go and see for yourself?’ Connor suggested smiling, then they both turned around and left him trying to get out of his harness at record speed and failing miserably. As they left, Mitchell couldn’t resist turning around and throwing Malcolm a kiss over his shoulder.

 

\---------------------------

 

When he finally entered his cabin Annabeth and Tom was standing next to his bunk, watching a simple cardboard box. It was in the middle of his bed. Malcolm swallowed.

‘Is that… from Connor?’

‘It says Hermes Express on it,’ Annabeth said. ‘So yeah, probably.’

‘I.. it was here w.. w.. when we c.. came back f.. from climbing,’ Tom said.

‘Uhm, yeah. Mitchell was keeping me occupied,’ Malcolm mumbled. Annabeth smirked at him.

‘So… what do you think the box does?’ she asked.

‘I’m honestly afraid to find out,’ Malcolm said. He carefully neared the box, but just when he was about to touch it, Tom grabbed his hand.

‘No!’ Malcolm looked at him, startled. ‘L.. look, Mal… I’m d.. d.. dating a H.. Hermes kid and… J.. j.. j.. just t.. trust m.. me on this. Don’t. Touch. The. Box.’

‘Did Cecil tell you anything?’

‘N.. no… B.. but I’m worried. T.. the way t.. t.. they think. I.. it’s not normal.’

‘He’s right,’ Annabeth said. ‘We need to examine this thing further so we know what we’re dealing with.’

Malcolm nodded. He swallowed dryly and sat down at his desk. Tom had sat down at his own desk and opened his laptop. Malcolm could hear him tap on the keys as he wrote.

 

\----------------------------

 

‘S.. so what’s w.. w.. with the b.. box anyway?’ Tom asked Cecil. They were sitting down by the water, looking at the sun set and totally ignoring the fact that they should both be at the campfire with their siblings right now.

‘Box?’

‘Yeah, t.. the box. On M.. Mal’s bed.’

‘Oh. _The box._ Ha! Nothing’s with the box. That’s the whole point.’

When Tom looked at Cecil with a furrowed brow he elaborated:

‘The box is harmless. It’s just a box. Look, Connor wanted revenge, but as we all know Mitchell isn’t one for it. However, he, too, thought that Malcolm needed to learn a lesson so they compromised. The box won’t harm anyone, I promise sweetie, you’re totally safe. Don’t worry about it.’

‘So when M.. Mitchell says t.. that t.. t.. the b.. box doesn’t d.. do a.. anything, he.. he’s telling t.. the truth? J.. just to mess w.. with Mal? T.. that’s actually… a.. actually k.. kind o.. of funny.’

Cecil nodded and ruffled his hair. Tom shoved him off but he gave Cecil a fond smile and a kiss on the cheek.

 

\-----------------------------

 

The box haunted Malcolm for days. Whenever he saw Mitchell around camp he would beg him to tell Malcolm what the box did. Mitchell would just wink and smile at him and say the same thing every time.

‘The box? The box doesn’t do anything, Mal.’

This did nothing to soothe Malcolm. Mitchell was obviously talking trash. Of course the box did _something_ , or, Malcolm mused, what was _inside_ the box did.

Finally, one evening, he snapped. He had been sleeping on the floor for four nights in a row and now he was sick and tired of it. He didn’t even have his pillow or his cover, because they were under the freaking box.

Tom, Annabeth and the rest of Malcolm’s siblings looked on in horror as he angrily marched up to the box and threw it open. A couple of them dove down behind furniture, Tom hid behind Annabeth, Malcolm squeezed his eyes shut and everyone waited for whatever shitstorm would emerge.

They waited for one second. They waited for two. They waited for a full minute. Nothing happened.

Finally, Malcolm dared open his eyes. He looked down into the box and groaned. On the bottom, written in Connor’s chickenscratch handwriting, was a note. It said just one word:

 

_Psych._

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments make me smile. Also, come be my tumblr friend: makerofaqueen


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